


When You're Looking For a Dreamer, You'll Find Other Things

by ivarara



Series: Hawk n Hum [4]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: guess whos back on their tomfoolery, this dude...................
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 19:49:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivarara/pseuds/ivarara
Summary: Hawk, Hum, and Blitz are trying to find one of the Dreamers on their way through Deepnest. They find someone else [and their...pet] instead.





	When You're Looking For a Dreamer, You'll Find Other Things

**Author's Note:**

> god that title sucks but i can't think of anything else!!!
> 
> aura is anotha oc i came up with!! she's a firefly and has a lil belfly [ror] that sticks with her. also, that bit where hawk mentions mantises? that's foreshadowing. may or may not have come up with a mantis friend for them too. we'll see

“Wait. Why are we here again?”

A defeated, exasperated sigh. “Same reason I told you a few hours ago: we’re looking for the Dreamer here.”

“Where are they?”

“According to our local _genius_,” sarcasm laced Hawk’s tone as he side-glared at Blitz, “in ‘the Beast’s Den’.”

“‘The Beast’?” Hum sounded on the verge of nervous.

“Indeed,” Blitz interjects loudly before Hawk can snap at her further. “The Dreamer there is Herrah the Beast. Hence the name.” He narrows his eyes and glares back at Hawk as he explains, subtly, so Hum doesn’t notice.

“Oh,” Hum murmurs. “Wait. Didn’t you say something about the Distant Village? Why are we back in Deepnest, then?”

“The only way to the Village is through Deepnest, unfortunately.” Blitz shudders dramatically as he speaks. Hawk rolls his eyes. 

“Why don’t we get back on our way, instead of chattering?” Hawk phrases the question more like a statement. Blitz sighs to himself, though kneels down and offers a ride for Hum, who takes up his offer gleefully. May as well keep her in a good mood, since someone’s a lost cause already, he thinks.

“Blitz? Didn’t we meet you in Deepnest? What were you doing here? Were you looking for Herrah, too?” Hum’s voice pipes up from above him.

“You did, in fact,” he confirms lightly. “I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, however. Just a bout of bad luck left me stuck.”

“What do you mean?”

“Honestly, I got so horribly lost that I resigned to staying here.” Hawk snorts loudly, despite himself. Blitz elects to ignore him. “This place is awfully...unsettling and eerie when you’re alone. Fortunately, you two have each other on your adventure. I hope you never have to go through things on your own, let alone traversing Deepnest.”

“We won’t!” Hum chirps. “Plus we have you, now!” Hawk mutters a low “_joyous_” to himself. “Hawk!” She snaps.

“What?” he snaps back.

“Straighten yourself up!” The sibling bickering, while some would find it irritating and draining, is overly amusing to the rogue warrior. Especially when the vessel half the size of her brother tries to speak sternly to him.

“Forgive me. I forgot it was_ very easy _to hurt Blitz’s feelings,” Hawk spits without looking up from the map in his hands. Hum’s fingers dig into the hood covering Blitz’s head as she holds in her own remark. Blitz can’t help but chuckle. Hawk either doesn’t hear, or doesn’t care.

They wander in comfortable (though, between Hawk and Blitz, tense and irritable) silence. Hum starts to nod off on Blitz’s back.

“Hey,” Hawk grabs his attention. “Do you see that?” His hand points further down the path. Blitz narrows his eyes and peers forward.

The fungal-like plants that had managed to take root in the murky underground’s rough terrain let off a dim pink glow, though not enough to reliably light the paths ahead. Still, in a small patch of them, the silhouette of a figure could be made out.

“I do,” he responds slowly. “I can go ahead and confront them.”

“You will not,” Hawk snarls before the sentence is even out completely.

“Oh? You suddenly care for my well-being?” Blitz snarks light-heatedly.

Hawk positively glares daggers at him. “No. I care for_ her _well-being,” he snaps quietly, nodding to a still-dozing Hum.

“Hm. Fair, I suppose.”

“I’ll go. Stay alert, but don’t get close enough for her to get hurt.”

“Be brave, O fierce vessel!”

Carefully, Hawk treads down the unfamiliar path, his spear-like nail out and ready. The ambient bustling of other unknown creatures skittering endlessly elsewhere cover his feather-light footsteps well enough. 

“Halt!” A voice, coming from the figure, booms out. A razor-sharp dagger whizzes just past Hawk’s head, searing by close enough for Blitz to feel the reflexive need to lean out of the way.

“Uh?” Hawk squawks.

“Wait!” Blitz yells back. He knew that voice.

“What?” Hawk yells back as he backpedals.

“Who?” The figure calls back.

“You!” Blitz hollers.

“Me?” Hawk asks incredulously.

“No! Them!”

A Belfly screeches as it reveals its glowing orange belly, and darts towards him.

“MOVE!” Hawk demands at him.

“Ror! No!” The stranger snaps. The Belfly, miraculously, halts in its tracks and cocks its head to the side.

“Aura?” Blitz pipes up hopefully.

“Blitz?” The shadow calls back. Their arms lower from their defensive position where they were ready to pitch more daggers if needed.

“Huh?” Hum grumbles groggily from her perch.

“Aura!” Blitz calls again. “Thought it’d be a good while before we met again, eh?”

“Indeed!” The figure, Aura, begins to stroll towards them. Hawk stays on guard (not because he was ready to protect Blitz, that imbecile) as they near. Blitz keeps one arm wrapped around Hum’s legs to hold her steady, extending the other for a friendly handshake. Aura extends an arm as well, clapping her palm firmly into Blitz’s.

“Two questions, if you don’t mind. Even if you do,” Hawk interrupts. They both swivel to him. “Firstly: you know him? Like...friends? Not gonna harm us?”

“Gods, no! I’d never harm a friend!” Aura ensures. “Especially an old friend with what appears to be precious cargo in tow,” she nods up at Hum, who’s struggling to stay awake.

“Fine. Secondly: you know...that?” Hawk points his spear to the Belfly, which had taken to dangling precariously from the ceiling of the tunnel, still peering curiously at them. “Also. That’s not his cargo. She’s with me,” he corrects.

“Yes!” Aura nods, her eyes squinting as she smiles widely. “That would be Ror. Ror, come!” she barks as she extends another (another?) set of hands towards the creature. To their surprise, the Belfly flits down and lands primly in her palm, ruffling itself a few times before settling. Its caretaker reaches up to gently scritch under its chin, which Ror leans into comfortably. “Ror here assists me with a few things down here. Very good at his job. Good company.”

By now, Hum has perked up at the prospect of not one, but two new friends. “He’s nice?” she asks hopefully.

“Oh, yes,” Aura lifts Ror higher into the air and tilts her hand upside-down, letting him dangle once again. For his part, Ror holds on steadily. “Ror here does quite a bit for me. He helps distract some of those rather unfriendly critters you come across down here so I and whoever else can get by, and he retrieves things for me, like my throwing daggers. In return, I keep him safe and happy.”

“He fetches?” Both Hawk and Hum ask, one voice filled with awe and another filled with disgust.

Wordlessly, Aura rights Ror on her palm once more and holds him in the direction of the first and only dagger that had been thrown their way. Immediately Ror darts through the air, swooping down to snatch up the dagger before returning to Aura and carefully depositing it in a waiting, empty hand, before happily returning to perch on the hand.

“Woah!” Hum blurts out. “That’s cool!”

“Rather talented, this little guy is,” Aura comments. She reaches so Ror is within range of Hum. “Go ahead, scritch his chin. He loves it.” 

With the least amount of hesitation Hum has ever done anything with, she reaches a tiny, inky black hand to carefully nudge under the Belfly’s mask. Ror leans into it eagerly, chirping in a pleasant manner.

“Listen, your…’pet’ is cute and all,” Hawk interjects, “but we really need to be on our way. Plus, you’re giving her ideas that she absolutely does not need.”

“Will you just be _nice_, Hawkers? Please?” Hum asks as exasperatedly as she can. “She’s being nice to us.”

Hawk throws a half-hearted glare toward his sibling, before slumping his shoulders in defeat.

“So! What brings you and your little party here, Blitz?” Aura steps in. She purposely avoids addressing a broody Hawk to their side. Ror is still soaking up the attention Hum is so willingly giving him.

“On our way to find ourselves a Dreamer, I reckon,” Blitz drawls.

“What for, pray tell?”

“I haven’t probed too much into it. It’s more their idea, their thing,” he nods towards the siblings.

“Ah, I see.” Aura pauses. “Presumably you’re looking for Herrah, then? In the Distant Village?”

“Yeah!” Hum pipes.

“I’m somewhat familiar with the Village’s layout. Would be better than wandering aimlessly, much less in a place like Deepnest.” She rolls her eyes exaggeratedly. “If you’ll have my company, I could help get you three there.”

“Of course!” Blitz assures.

“_‘Of course!_’” Hawk parrots. “Let’s add more to our supposed ‘duo’ on their adventure! Why not! Let’s find some Mantises and ask them if they’d like to come with us too! Why not Quirrel? And some Nailsmiths? What about a Moss Creeper? Hum likes them!” He’s started stomping his way down the tunnel, slowly growing less vibrant but just as irate.

“Hawk’s just grumpy in general,” Hum assures Aura. “He doesn’t not not like you. He’s like a grumpy old man.”

“Now, not all old men are grumpy,” Blitz smirks. “Elderbug back in Dirtmouth is very patient and kind to travelers.”

“You’re right!” Hum pips. 

“He will warm up to you at some point, if you plan on sticking around long enough,” Blitz leans towards the firefly and whispers. “He hated my guts when we first encountered one another. I mean, he probably still does, but he’s less vocal about it.” Both him and Aura chuckle. “Plus, you’re already on great terms with his little sister. That’s an added bonus to your tally.”

“I’ll have to...think about it, I guess,” Aura answers hesitantly. “There’s not exactly that many travelers still trying to get through these creepy tunnels anymore, so I wouldn’t be awfully missed.”

“We’ll leave you to it. However, I must say: Hum here,” he shrugs his shoulders to get Hum’s attention, “makes _excellent_ flower crowns. Top-notch quality. Sure to rival even any of the jewelry the royalty wore in its prime.”

“Oh?” Aura exaggerates her interest. “You’ve caught my attention, then. I shall have to stay long enough to get my hands on one,” she smiles. Hum beams back at the two of them. “Come, now, lest your brother lose his way while on his grumpy-old-man rant.”


End file.
